Why Is There So Much Government Waste? | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Is There So Much Government Waste? | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The one thing that these ridiculous expenditures all have in common is that they are a direct result of people being able to spend other people’s money. In Congress’s case, we have 535 people with trillions of other people’s dollars to spend. That they’re content to fritter billions away on toys for special interests shouldn’t be shocking."

"There’s also a good chance that while they’re upset with a particular expenditure, they’re okay with the general mission of the program responsible for the waste."

"First, so long as the federal government can spend money on anything it wants, politicians are going to spend money on anything they want. Second, contrary to what we’re taught in school, policymakers generally allocate money on the basis of political and parochial concerns — not on the basis of sound economics or even the so-called “public interest.”"

Beware the ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ trap

Beware the ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ trap: "The founders chose the lesser of two evils – because it led to the greater good. For them, the greater evil, worse than allowing slavery – which they realized would come to an end before too many decades – would have been to allow the disintegration of the United States of America to continue, to permit history’s greatest birth of liberty to be smothered in the cradle."

Good point. But there were also other options (i.e. North USA and South USA). Also, I don't think anyone can complain about the poor choices if they didn't first work to improve those choices (i.e. vote in primary, support their candidate, support good lower candidates that may one day be presidential candidates, etc).